UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE July/August 1998 StateStateMagazine KathmanduKathmandu Where the past is always present Coming in September: Wellington State Magazine (ISSN 1099–4165) is published monthly, except bimonthly in July and August, by the U.S. Department of State, 2201 C St., N.W., Washington, DC. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, State DC. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to State Magazine, Magazine PER/ER/SMG, SA-6, Room 433, Washington, DC 20522-0602. State Carl Goodman Magazine is published to facilitate communication between manage- ment and employees at home and abroad and to acquaint employees EDITOR-IN-CHIEF with developments that may affect operations or personnel. Donna Miles State Magazine is available by subscription through the DEPUTY EDITOR Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Kathleen Goldynia Washington, DC 20402 (telephone [202] 512-2000). The magazine can be viewed online free at: www.state.gov/www/publications/statemag/. DESIGNER The magazine welcomes State-related news and features. Informal articles work best, accompanied by photographs. Staff is unable to ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS acknowledge every submission or make a commitment as to which Kenneth Hunter issue it will appear in. Photographs will be returned upon request. CHAIRMAN Please include a daytime phone number. Articles should not exceed five typewritten, double-spaced Sylvia Bazala pages. They should also be free of acronyms (with all office names, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY agencies and organizations spelled out). Photos should include Kaye Boesel typed captions identifying persons from left to right with job titles. Catherine Brown Please submit material on Apple Macintosh or IBM PC-compatible disks, including a hard copy. Articles may also be e-mailed or faxed in Colleen Hope 14 point type to (703) 812-2475. The mailing address is State Larry Mandel Magazine, PER/ER/SMG, SA-6, Room 433, Washington, DC Jeffrey Meer 20522–0602. Contributions may also be left in Room 3811, Main State. Gary Pergl The magazine’s main number is (703) 516-1667. Deadline for copy is the 15th of each month. StateState Magazine July/August 1998 Contents No. 416 Department of State • United States of America COLUMNS The Garuda, a Hindu 8Foreign Buildings Operations image, near Kathmandu. As the Department’s real estate has grown, so have the 2 From the Secretary responsibilities of the team that manages that portfolio. 4 Direct From the D.G. 14 Post of the Month: Kathmandu An assignment in legendary Nepal has its rewards 53 Ask Dr. Dumont and challenges. 54 State of the Arts 22 Public Service Recognition Week I Foreign Service Day 60 Safety Scene I Civil Service Day I Department Awards 64 Library Report 34 Welfare to Work Two women determined to leave the welfare system find opportunities at State. DEPARTMENTS Photo by Joseph Furgal 40 International Marriages Even romance has its rules when the perspective bride 3 Letters to the Editor or groom is a foreign national. 5 In the News 43 Counterintelligence Concerns You may be recruited as a spy, too, so be alert to the signs. 61 Obituaries 44 Economics and the Foreign Service 62 Personnel Actions A former economics officer offers some unique insights. 47 NATO Enlargement As three former Warsaw Pact nations are considered for admission, the alliance examines its role in the 21st century. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE July-August 1998 Construction of the modular office building StateMagazine in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Kathmandu Where the past is always present On the Cover Kathmandu’s Patan Durbar Square Photo by Joseph Furgal FROM THE SECRETARY Nuclear Tests Test U.S. Diplomacy The nuclear explosive tests by India and Pakistan continue to reverberate throughout the international community. If you are like me, this crisis has affected you not only as a foreign policy pro- fessional, but as a parent and citizen. These senseless blasts were a blow to the nuclear nonproliferation regime. But even more immediately, they added kindling to the tinderbox that is Kashmir. Department officials have played a central role in formulating and carrying out the U.S. response to this crisis. My intensive consultations among the P-5, the G-8 and broader groups of countries were only the beginning. Clearly, we face a protracted global diplomatic challenge to ease tensions in South Asia, prevent further proliferation setbacks and ultimately to strengthen the international arms control regime. I addressed the elements of this challenge June 11 in remarks to a gathering sponsored by the nonpartisan Stimson Center. My purpose was not only to set forth the Administration’s response to those tests, but to articulate, in some detail, our broader diplomatic strategy to prevent the spread and limit the danger of the world’s deadliest weapons. The heart of my argument was that the South Asia tests had not—as some sug- gest—discredited the logic of nonproliferation. Instead, they validated that logic. The truth is, after all, inescapable that the tests left India and Pakistan less secure, less respected and less in control of regional events than they had been before their misguided decisions. I then argued that it is now not less important, but more important than ever, for the United States to provide leadership and set the right example by approv- ing promptly the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. And I spelled out a series of ini- tiatives designed to exercise greater restraint over the full range of the world’s deadliest weapons, from nuclear warheads to poison gas to the shoulder-fired missiles that have become a very real threat to civil aviation. Developing these initiatives, building support for them, responding further to the crisis in South Asia, dissuading others from following the example of India and Pakistan, and maintaining our vigilance against “loose nukes” and unconvention- al threats to U.S. security is a very full plate of diplomacy to dig into this summer. Success will require all the energy, teamwork and creativity we can muster. But I know that we all understand the stakes, and I am confident that we will see the strongest possible effort both in Washington and in missions around the world. This is a difficult test—but it is a test we cannot afford to fail. Madeleine Albright Secretary of State 2 State Magazine LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Let’s Try a Little Courtesy Pull the Porn, Please who have given their lives in the service of the United States.” I did Dear Editor: Dear Editor: not. It was suggested by Tex Harris, I feel the need to comment on the In your March issue, you devoted then president of AFSA, who com- lack of courtesy shown by many extensive coverage to women’s mented on my proposal in a July State Department employees. Over issues, quoting one senior official as 1997 letter to Secretary Albright. the years I have repeatedly observed saying, “Advancing the status of Ms. Rhodes stated further that “it some of the most discourteous women is not only a moral impera- is impossible to list the names of all behavior displayed toward one tive; it is being actively integrated FSNs who have lost their lives, since another, and the situation seems to into the foreign policy of the United records have not always been kept.” be worsening. It is not uncommon to States.” Several articles cited laud- That may be true, but I would ven- see individuals try to push their able efforts undertaken recently to ture that some geographic executive way onto an elevator past those that end. directorates have records that would attempting to get off without so A visit to one of the concession- reflect additional names and, if not, much as an “excuse me.” People aires at the Main State building, one need only ask the survivors of routinely throw change on the however, tells a different story to vis- those unforgettable incidents to counter instead of handing it to a iting diplomats and other digni- obtain them. cashier. Recently, I observed a half taries. There, available for sale in The “bronze memorial plaque in dozen people going through a cafe- plain view of anyone visiting these the courtyard adjacent to the diplo- teria cashier’s line without estab- establishments are Playboy, Penthouse matic entrance” to which Ms. Rhodes lishing any eye contact, identifying and Club magazines. They are dedi- refers is a nice touch, but hardly the what they had purchased or utter- cated to showcasing women either recognition they deserve. I believe ing so much as a “good morning” or in nude poses or engaging in sex. that more should have been and can “thank you.” I am not questioning the principle be done to honor those fallen col- Individuals cut corners in the hall- of whether adults should be able to leagues. The genesis of my sugges- ways, abruptly coming face to face purchase or view these materials. I tion to have the names of those FSNs with a person walking in the oppo- am, however, questioning whether on a wall inside Main State was a site direction, and fail to excuse these publications, which offend personal response to the flow of themselves. Drivers nearly run over women and many men as well, praise for FSNs from two successive pedestrians as they enter the base- should be allowed within the primary directors general. I also believed ment parking garage. Some individ- edifice dedicated to promoting and then, as I do now, that if the names of uals never greet the person who pursuing U.S. foreign policy objec- Secretary of Commerce Brown and daily empties their trash can or tives. These objectives include, ironi- others killed in the Croatia air crash delivers the mail.